Emotions are running high in Austin, TX, this week after the Texas Longhorns’ 35-10 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs all but put Texas’ College Football Playoff hopes on life support.
With road losses at “The Horseshoe” in Columbus, “The Swamp” in Gainesville, and “Between The Hedges” in Athens this season, Texas’ streak of making consecutive College Football Playoff appearances is in serious jeopardy. Questions are being asked of Steve Sarkisian, including if he’s the right man for the job.
Is Steve Sarkisian the Right Man for the Texas Longhorns?
One question many national analysts are starting to ask, along with those who support the program, is whether Sarkisian is the man with the plan to bring another national championship to Longhorn Nation, and almost as importantly, following links to multiple openings this offseason, if he is committed to doing so.
Although Texas has some issues to address, this situation is not comparable to what’s happening at the Penn State Nittany Lions, Auburn Tigers, or LSU Tigers. Unlike those situations, Sarkisian needs Texas as much as it needs him for everyone to be successful.
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In his tenure at Texas, Sarkisian has won a Big 12 title to go along with his two College Football Playoff appearances while sporting a solid 45-20 record.
This is a significant contrast from the first seven seasons after Texas coaching legend Mack Brown departed from the Longhorns, during which the program went 48-39 with no conference titles or playoff appearances under the Charlie Strong and Tom Herman eras.
“I’ve had no discussions, not with my agent, not with the university, not with any other school, not with any NFL team, about ever going anywhere else,” Sarkisian said at his weekly press conference this week. “I came here to win championships.”
Despite starting the season ranked number one in multiple preseason polls but falling short of expectations with three losses before big rivalries games against Arkansas and Texas A&M, Sarkisian and Texas are in a good place in the big picture.
The Longhorns are expected to return Arch Manning, who is slowly but surely maturing into the star quarterback many projected him to be ahead of this season. This, combined with the fact that Texas is on pace to have top-five recruiting classes in the 2026 and 2027 cycles, bodes well for the team.
Add in the fact that Sarkisian’s ability to get big-time players to come to Austin via the portal by using Texas’s big NIL money fund, and the Longhorns have the foundation to flip their roster just like they did ahead of the 2024 season.
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Although things are extremely tough right now, a couple of things are certain: the Texas football program is in the best shape it has been in since Brown and Vince Young were winning the national championship in 2005, and the program will be better with Sarkisian in it instead of out of it.
At the end of the day, the entire program must improve and learn to win big games on the road, and Sark must find a way to beat Kirby Smart and win consistently on big stages for Texas to bring another national title.
